Detachable golf cleat



July 4, 1967 R. E. STRICKLAND 3,328,901

DETACHABLE GOLF CLEAT Filed July 6, 1965 INVENTOR. @055er 57am/MNDUnited States Patent() 3,328,901 DETACHABLE GOLF CLEAT Robert E.Strickland, 1965 S. Beverly Glen, Los Angeles, Calif. 90025 Filed July6, 1965, Ser. No. 469,949 12 Claims. (Cl. 36-59) The present inventionrelates to cleated shoes, and more particula-rly, to detachable cleatassembly for converting ordinary street shoes into cleated shoes.

One of the more popular forms of cleated shoes is the golf shoe.Generally speaking, it resembles .the ordinary street shoe with theaddition of Ian extra heavy sole having -a number of base sockets forthreadedly receiving golf cleats. Unfortunately for the golfer however,such shoes are quite expensive and are generally limited in theirutility to the golf links.

To avoid the separate purchase of street shoes and cleated shoe forgolf, detachable cleat assemblies have been developed for convertingordinary street shoes to golf or other type of cleated sport or utilityshoes. In con-struction, such cleat assemblies generally include a metalplate, or metal strips, with cleats connected thereto. The plate, inturn, is attached to the sole of the shoe either by clamps extendingover the outer edges of the shoe sole or by securing a hook on the plateinto -a socket arrangement stationed in the shoe sole.

Unfortunately such detachable cleat assemblies are fairly heavy andrelatively expensive to manufacture. Fu-rther, they require periodicservicing and adjustment during use. More important, they are fairlyrigid and do not closely follow the sole contour and `do not ben-dfreely with the sole of the shoethereby interfering with the wearing andwalking comfort of the street shoes.

In view of the foregoing problems, it is a general object of thepresen-t invention to provide improved detachable cleat assemblies, forconverting ordinary street shoes into cleated shoes, which assemblies donot inte-rfere with the wearing comfort of the shoes to which they areattached.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a detachable cleatassembly which closely follows and bends with the sole of the shoe towhich it is attached.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improveddetachable cleat assembly of the foregoing type which is lightweight andinexpensive, yet long lasting and trouble-free.

Still another object `of this invention is to provide an improveddetachable cleat assembly of a simple, flexible yet strong constructionwhich is inexpensive to manu- .facture and which may be mass-produced inlarge quantities.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an improveddetachable cleat assembly which is easily and rapidly attached toordinary street shoes to convert them into cleated sport or utility-shoes and which does not permanently damage the shoes.

The foregoing, as well as other objects and advantages of thisinvention, may be more clearly understood by reference to the followingdetailed description when taken with the drawing which, by way ofexample only, illustrates two forms of detachable cleat assembliesembodying the features of the present invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an ordinary street shoe with thedetachable cleat assembly anchored to the sole of the shoe;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view yof the cleat assembly illustrated in FIGURE1;

FIGURE 3 is a side View of the cleat assembly ilustrated in FIGURE 2;

illustrated in FIGURE 6y for the side strap lfront portion 24 is rearportion 26 is connected to the back of FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary bottomview of the back end portion of the cleat assembly taken along .the line4-4 in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5 5 in FIGURE 2,illustrating the inner construction of a detachable cleat for anchoringthe cleat assembly to the sole of the shoe;

' FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 6 6 in FIGURE2, showing the integral molding of a side cleat to the fiat, web of thecleat assembly;

FIGURE 7 is a perspective View of the detachable rear cleat of the cleatassembly;

FIGURE 8 is a side view of an alternate form of cleat assembly; and

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary side view of the front end portion of thealternate form of the cleat assembly lshown attached tothe sole of ashoe.

Referring initially to FIGURE 1, the detachable cleat assembly isrepresented geenrally by the numeral 10 and includes a one-piece,integrally molded, plastic web 12 including a plurality of cleats 14,and anchoring means 16 for securing the web to the bottom of the sole 17of a street shoe 19. Preferably, the web is formed of a durable, longlasting plastic, such as polypropylene, and is flexible to freely bendand stretch slightly in a fore and aft direction to follow the .changingcontour of the sole 17. Since the web 12 and cleats 14 are formed of asingle piece, plastic, the cleat assembly 10 is Very lightweight. Also,beca-use -of the single-piece construction, the web, such as 12, may beformed using conventional mass-production, plastic molding techniques,thereby rendering the cleat yassemblies ve-ry inexpensive to produce.

Referring more specifically to FIGURE 2, the integrally mol-ded, plasticweb 12 is illustrated as including two series of metal screw-tippedcleats arranged in forwardly converging paths along the right and leftsides of the web. Pairs of parallel, generally flat, vside straps 18 areintegrally molde-d to and interconnect the cleats 14 of each series (seeFIGURE 6). Also, corresponding cleats in the two series are aligned witheach other and are interconnected by plastic cross straps 20 which, inturn, are connected to adjacent cross Istraps by central straps 22.

The double side straps 18 provide a reinforced connec' ycross straps 20'are relatively thick and prevent relative transverse movement of thecleats.

In addition to Ithe foregoing, the web 12 includes centrally aligned,disc-shaped, front and back portions 24 and 26 adapted to receive theanchoring means 16 for attaching the web 12 to the sole 18 of the shoe20. The connectedto the front end of the two series of cleats by twopair of forwardly converging side straps 28 and 30, and to the frontcross strap 20 by a thin central strap 32. The construction of theparallel side yst-raps 28 and 30 lis the same `as the side straps 18,while the central strap 32 resembles the central straps 22. The the twoseries cleats by outwardly curved side straps 34 and 36. r1`he sidestraps 34 and 36 are 'also of a thin plastic and are integrally moldedto the rear cleats of each series as The construction of the front andback portions 24 and 26 is substantially the same, each including acentral hole 38 for receiving Ione of the anchoring means 16 to connectthe web 12 to the sole 18 of the shoe 201. As illustrated most clearlyin FIGURES 4 and 5, for the back portion 26, the hole 38 has anoutwardly beveled top portion and is surrounded at its lower edge by acollar 40. Also, the bottom surface of the back portion around thecollar 40 is rough, either including etched radial lines or pits causedby Sandblasting as illustrated in FIGURE 4. Thus arranged, the backportion 26 is adapted to tightly receive and frictionally interlock withthe anchoring means 16, here comprising a detachable cleat for snappinginto the hole 38 and hand screwing into the sole 17 of the shoe 19.

The detachable cleat 16 is more clearly illustrated in FIGURES 5 and 7and includes a cone-shaped spike portion 42 having a metal screw tip 43,a radial ange 44 extending from the base of the spiked portion, and apair of wings 4S between the lian-ge and the spiked portion. The top ofthe radial flange 44 is rough and forms an interlocking friction surfacewith the bottom of the back portion 26.

A screw 46 extends from the base of the cleat 16 and has an eccentrichead 48 embedded or otherwise securely fixed within the base to preventrelative rotation between the screw Iand cleat as the cleat is turned toanchor the screw in the sole of the shoe 19.

The screw 4 Gis surrounded by a collar 50, which, in turn, is surroundedby :an annular groove 52 in the base -of the cleat. The marginal portionS4 of the collar 50 is radially enlarged and includes a slot 56 whichallows the collar to contract and then return to its original shape.Also, the radial dimens-ion of the marginal portion S4 is slightlylarger than the bottom dimension of the hole 38 in the back portion 26.Therefore, to connect the detachable cleat 16 to the web 12, the tip ofthe screw 46 is inserted through the opening 38 in the back portion 26and the detachable cleat 16 pressed toward the web to cause the marginaledge S4 of the collar 50 to engage the collar 40, contract, and snapthrough the hole 38-a-gain enlarging to its original size in the upperbeveled portion of the hole. In this po-sition, the collar 40 restswithin the vannular groove 52 in the base of the detachable cleat andthe marginal edge 54 loosely engages the beveled surface of the hole 3Sto allow the cleat 14 to freely rotate within the hole 38.

The other `detachable cle-at 16 for the front of the tassembly islikewise inserted through the hole 38 in the front portion 24 of theweb, readying the assembly 10 for attachment t-o the sole of the shoe19.

To attach the assembly 10 to the shoe 19, the user of the assembly firstpositions the web 12 over the sole 17, `and presses the tips of thescrews 46 slightly into the s-ole. One of the detachable cleats 16 isthen tightly gripped, using the wings 45, and turned to drive the screw46 part way int-o the sole of the shoe. The same step is followed forthe other detachable cleat and the process repeated until the front andback of the web 12 presses tightly against the bottom of the sole tofirmly anchor the assembly to the shoe. Under these conditions, thefriction surfaces of the detachable cleat 16 and front and back portions24 and 26 of the web tightly interlock with each other to resist furthertightening or loosening of the cleats 16.

The foregoing operation is repeated for the users other shoe to completethe transition from street to cleated shoes.

Since the cleat assembly 10 is very lightweight and freely bendable in afore and raft direction, it `does not interfere with the weaning comfortof the shoe 19 land closely follows the changing contour of the sole 17during movement of the wearer of the shoe. During bending of the soley17, the web 12 also expands and contracts slightly to prevent undesiredshear forces from acting in the screws 46 in the shoe sole. This isprimarily accomplished by expansion and contraction of the curved sidestraps 34 land 36 connecting the back portion 26 of the web.

When it is desired to again return the shoes to street use, thedetachable cleats 16 are simply unscrewed from the soles to separate thewebs from the soles. yIt should be noted that the screws 46 attac 'ngthe Webs to the soles of the shoes are relatively small and do notpermanently damage the soles, impair the wearing comfort of the shoes,or reduce the wearing life of the shoesA An alternate form of cleatassembly is illustrated in FIGURES 8 and 9. As represented, thealternate form of cleat assembly is very similar to the cleat assembly10. Therefore, the alternate form is represented by numeral 10' andparts of the cleat assembly 10 corresponding to like parts of the cleatassembly 10 are represented by similar numerals with a prime notation.

The primary difference between the cleat assembly 10 and the cleatassembly 10 is in the form taken by the anchoring means 16. Asillustrated, the anchoring means 16' comprise screws, having hexagonalheads. The screws 16' pass upward through holes 58 in cleats 60,integrally molded with and extending downward from the bottom of thefore and aft end portions 24 and 26 of the web 12.

Thus, to attach the web 12 to the sole of a shoe, the top of the web islaid over the sole and the screws 16' introduced into the sole by meansof a wrench or other suitable tool. When it is desired to remove the web12 from the shoe, the foregoing is simply reversed.

It should lbe noted from both FIGURES 8 and 9 that the cleats 60 areshorter than the cleats 14. In fact, when the screws 16' extend into thesole of the shoe, the bottom of the screw heads lie slightly above thebottom of the cleats 14'. Accordingly, when the shoe is being worn forwalking over hard surfaces, the central cleats 14 bear the weight of thepersonwearing the shoes with the heads of the screws 16 slightly abovethe hard surface. This minimizes the wear on the screws 16' and avoidsdefacing of the screw heads.

In the foregoing, the cleat assemblies 10 and 10 have been describedwith particular reference to converting a street shoe into a golf shoe.It should be noted, however, that the cleat assemblies are equallyapplicable to converting shoes or boots to other types of sport shoes,such as those employed in track and football, or to utility shoes formountain climbing or walking over :snow and ice. Also, in the foregoing,particular forms of cleat assemblies have been described in some detail.It is, of course, possible to make changes and modifications in theillustrated forms, such :as changes in the web design and in the shapeof the cleats, without departing from the spirit of this invention.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention be limited in scopeonly by the terms of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A detachable cleat assembly for shoes, comprising:

a plurality of thin, flexible and slightly elastic straps integrallymolded to define an open network expandable in the fore and aftdirection, said network f'urther having a plurality of cleats integrallymolded therein;

and means for anchoring said network to a portion of the bottom of ashoe.

2. A detachable cleat assembly for shoes, comprising:

a thin, flexible, plastic web having a plurality of cleats integrallymolded therein;

and means for anchoring said web to the bottom of a shoe to follow thecontour thereof, said means including a detachable cleat turnablerelative to said web .and having a screw extending therefrom throughsaid web for screwing into the bottom of said shoe.

3. A ldetachable Icleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a plastic, cleat carrying web expandable in the fore and aft directionincluding a plurality of spaced, downwardly extending cleats andbendable straps integrally molded to and interconnecting said cleats, atleast some of which bendable straps are slightly elastic;

land means for anchcoring said web to the bottom of the sole of a shoeto follow the contour thereof.

4. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a plastic, cleat carrying web including a plurality of spaced,downwardly extending cleats and bendable and slightly elastic strapsintegrally molded to and interconnecting said cleats;

and means for anchoring said web to the bottom of the sole of a shoe tofollow the contour thereof, said anchoring means including detachcablescrew members extending through said web for screwing into the sole ofsaid shoe.

5. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a plastic, cleat carrying web including a plurality of spaced,downwardly extending cleats and slightly elastic outside strapsintegrally molded to and interconnecting said cleats;

and means for anchoring said web to the bottom of the sole of a shoe to-follow the contour thereof, said anchoring means including a pair ofdetachable cle-ats each having la screw iixedly connected thereto forextending through an opening in said web and screwing into the sole ofsaid shoe.

6. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a single piece, plastic, cleat carrying web including two series ofcleats, front and back screw receiving portions, relatively thin,bendable and slightly elastic outside straps extending between thecleats of each series and between each series of cleats in said frontand back portions, and relatively thick cross straps betweencorresponding cleats in said series of cleats;

and a pair of detachable screw members for extending through said frontand back portions into the sole of a shoe thereby anchoring said web tosaid sole to follow the contour thereof.

7. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a single piece, plastic, cleat carrying web including two series ofcleats, front and back screw receiving portions, relatively thin,bendable and slightly elastic outside straps extending between thecleats of each series and between each series of cleats and said frontportion, outside straps between each series and said back portion toallow slight expansion of said web in a fore and aft direction;

and a pair of detachable screw members for extending through said frontor back portions into the sole of a shoe thereby anchoring said web tosaid sole to follow the contour thereof.

8. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a single piece, integrally molded, plastic, cleat carrying web includingtwo series of cleats, front and back screw receiving portions, pairs ofgenerally parallel, relatively thin, bendable straps extending betweenthe cleats of each series of cleats and between each series and saidfront portion, an outside strap extending between each series of cleatsand said back portion, to allow slight fore and aft expansion of saidweb, and relatively thick cross straps between corresponding cleats insaid series of cleats;

and a pair of detachable screw members for extending through said frontor back portions into the sole of a shoe thereby anchoring said web tosaid sole to follow the contour thereof.

9. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a single piece, plastic, cleat carrying web including a plurality ofcleats, generally flat front and back screw receiving portions, andgenerally flat, bendable and slightly elastic outside straps betweensaid cleats and said front and back portions, said front and backportions having holes therethrough;

and a pair of detachable cleats including means for lpassing throughsaid holes to snap said detachable cleats to said web, each detachablecleat also having a screw xedly connected thereto and screwing into thesole of a shoe to securely anchor said web to said sole to follow thecontour thereof.

10. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe comprising:

a single piece, plastic, cleat carrying web including a plurality ofcleats integrally molded therein and extended downwardly therefrom, twoof said cleats being located fore and aft of the remainder of saidcleats and being shorter than the remainder of said cleats, andbendable, slightly elastic straps between said cleats;

and a pair of screws extending through said fore and aft cleats to-anchor said web to the sole of a shoe to follow the contour thereof.

11. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a single piece, plastic, cleat carrying web including two series ofcleats of predetermined height, front and back cleats shorter than saidtwo series of cleats and having screw receiving holes passingtherethrough, relatively thin, bendable and slightly elastic outsidestraps extending between the cleats of each series and between eachseries of cleats and said front and back cleats, and relatively thickcross straps between corresponding cleats of said series of cleats;

and a pair of screws for extending through said screw receiving holes insaid front and back cleats into the sole of a shoe, thereby anchoringsaid web to said sole to follow the contour thereof with the heads ofsaid screws lying in a horizontal plane above the lowermost surface ofsaid two series of cleats.

12. A detachable cleat assembly for the sole of a shoe,

comprising:

a single piece, plastic, cleat carrying web including two series ofcleats of predetermined height, front and back cleats shorter than saidtwo series of cleats and including screw receiving holes passingtherethrough, relatively thin, bendable and slightly elastic outsidestraps extending between the cleats of each series and between eachseries of cleats and said front cleat, curved outside straps betweeneach series and said back cleat to -allow slight expansion of said webin a fore and aft direction;

and a pair of screws for extending through said screw receiving holes insaid front and back cleats into the sole of a shoe, thereby anchoringsaid web to said sole to follow the contour thereof with the heads ofsaid screws lying in a horizontal plane above the bottom of said twoseries of cleats.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS PATRICK D. LAWSON, PrimaryExaminer. FRANK I. COHEN, Examiner.

1. A DETACHABLE CLEAT ASSEMBLY FOR SHOES, COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OFTHIN, FLEXIBLE AND SLIGHTLY ELASTIC STRAPS INTEGRALLY MOLDED TO DEFINEAN OPEN NETWORK EXPANDABLE IN THE FORE AND AFT DIRECTION, SAID NETWORKFURTHER HAVING A PLURALITY OF CLEATS INTEGRALLY MOLDED THEREIN; ANDMEANS FOR ANCHORING SAID NETWORK TO A PORTION OF THE BOTTOM OF A SHOE.